Ppl check out this amazing article posted by my friend...

EveRytHng d@t MaTters Under tHe $un: food to hog on...: the traditional gajar halwa ...

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PANI PURI

"In West Bengal and specifically Calcutta,Phuchka is considered to be THE king of this variety of snacks, compared to it's cousins like golgappas or panipuris. The filling is made by lightly mashing boiled potatoes with black salt, salt, some spices, a generous portion of tamarind pulp (made by mashing ripe tamarind in tamarind water), chilli (powder/chopped/boiled & pasted). The tamarind water Tetul Jol is made by mixing tamarind and spices/ salt and making a light and tart liquid with water. At some places like Deshpriya Park, a very famous variety is made with sour curd, and called Dahi (curd) Phucka. Onions are never used in Phuchkas.

The panipuri originated from the Magadh region of India, present day South Bihar. The English meaning of golgappa is "watery indian bread" or "crisp sphere eaten." Literary mentions suggest that it may have originated from Banares

Its popular names and the area where it is known by this name are:

§  Gol gappa, Water balls — New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar

§  Pani ke bataashe— Uttar Pradesh

§  Pani ke bataashe — Rajasthan

§  Panipuri — Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra

§ Phuchka — West Bengal

§  Gup chup — Orrisa

PAV BHAJI

" Pav Bhaji is a fast food dish native to Maharashtra and is 
popular in most metropolitan areas in India. The origin of this dish is traced to the heyday of the textile mills in Mumbai. The mill workers used to have lunch breaks too short for a full meal, and a light lunch was preferred to a heavy one, as the employees had to return to strenuous physical labor after lunch. A vendor created this dish using items or parts of other dishes available on the menu. Roti or rice was replaced with pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were amalgamated into just one spicy concoction, the 'bhaji'. Initially, it remained the food of the mill-workers. With time the dish found its way into restaurants and spread over Central Mumbai and other parts of the city 

Hello PPl, if any1 needs  recipe for any dish from my EXPERIMETNS page.. kindly post or comment here so that i will keep on uploading recipes as per ur  demands!!!!

"Meat:

1.       Check out the quality of meat you are using. Avoid RED MEAT and if at all you are using Red meat( Beef, Mutton, Ham) go for pinkish shade of meat. It implies that you meat is fresh. Avoid using Darker Red meat. If its not tender n fresh, it will take like a zillion years to cook and moreover spoil the taste of food also!

2.      If you are buying meat is large quantity whereas u need li’l amount at a time, DO NOT refrigerate the entire contents together. Make separate shares and store them in different containers/ covers.

Eg: You need 200gm of meat at a time but you have bought 1 kg from the market then, make 5 separate shares each of 200 gm and store them in separate containers. Before storing make sure you marinate them well with salt+ginger-garlic paste.

This is because when you defroze the entire 1 kg of meat while u need just 200gm, other portion of meat also gets defrosted and loses its nutrition value. Thus defrosting the meat again and again makes it lose all its contents as well as changes the taste. So better defrost only the required amount.

3.      Shape of pieces change the taste of your food. If shreds are needed, use shreds. If mince is needed, mince it! If chunks are needed, ask the butcher to make chunks!

4.     Generally opt of WITH-BONE meat rather than boneless. Bones’ nutrition value is too high and if they are just boiled to prepare stalk, it is like ‘pearls n gems’ for the chefs… damn precious! When this stalk is used in various preparations, it not only increases the nutrition value but also improves the taste!

5.      If boneless meat is needed, you can very well go for WITH-BONE meat, marinate it with salt+ginger-garlic paste and boil it. You will get the stalk and just shred the pieces i.e. separate the flesh from bones.

6.      If the meat pieces are boneless, marinate them and keep aside for a longer time than the with-bone pieces. You may also thrust in the meat with a fork so that the marinated masala enters into the flesh and gives you an amazing finger-licking taste.

7.     Whenever you add meat in a pan/wok, make sure u sauté it for sometime and then cover it with a lid so that the meat liberates some oil from itself which even more adds to the taste. It is very useful while making gravy.

8.      Make sure you meat has cooked properly before serving it.

9.      Make sure you use minimum number of veggies in a preparation containing meat. Always the amount of meat should be more. Lots of veggies at times hamper the ability of meat to make the preparation tasty.

10.   Salt is the BEST preservative

               

Tips for non veggies coming soon! Watch out!

Tips for veggies!

" To start with I would like to say that these are the tips based on my personal experiences. It is possible that you may have better options and if you got better ideas do comment n post!

BASIC ONES:

1.       Cut your nails before cooking.

2.      No chipped nail paints.

3.      Avoid using nail colours.

4.     Tie you hair well before cooking.

5.      Preferable, cover your head with a plastic cap.

6.      Use and apron while cooking.

7.     Be alert and careful of your actions.

8.      Be specific and organized.

9.      Have a clear idea about what are you exactly going to do before you start.

10.   Cell phones are not allowed while cooking.

11.   If you get a cut while cooking, its expected that you leave the chopping tray immediately and move away from the chopped veggies and ingredients. Donot stand there only. Blood can get mixed with the food.

12.  Donot snneze or cough while cooking. Use a napkin preferably.

13.  Maintain cleanliness and hygienic conditions where you cook.

SPICES & TASTEMAKERS:

1.       While dealing with spices, every recipe specifies the quantity of spices to be used as in Tbsp/Teaspoon etc. But you know your taste buds very well and you even know the amount of spiciness your spices possess. As in at times the Red Chilli Powder is very hot or at times it is very mild. So if it is mentioned to add only 1 Tbsp chilli powder, the dish would not up to the mark for you. So here you gotta use a little bit of your judgement taking into account your and your family needs and the level of spiciness of your ingredients.

2.      If you are cooking Chinese food, I’d say stick to the proportions of the sauces  viz soya sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black bean sauce, Red pepper sauce, Schezwan sauce etc. These are usually bottled and their taste hardly differs. Hence add the specified quantity unless you are really pro and you know PERFECTLY about their constitution.

3.       Avoid adding MSG to your preparations. No doubt it gives you a terrific taste but then it even terrifies your kidneys! Instead add a mixture of salt and sugar in 1 tbsp:1 teaspoon proportion. Follow this proportion strictly.

4.     Use black salt for a few preparations like chat or sandwiches or frankies to make them taste better. But be careful! Its very salty as compared to ordinary salt.

5.      Use fresh spices for better flavours.

6.      Using certain Indian herbs in Chinese like star anise can enhance the taste of your Chinese food.

7.     Look for different types of cumin seeds and cardamom.

VEGETABLES & CHOPPING:

1.       While using Cauliflower, put it in haldi water for 15 min. It kills allthe germs and insects.

2.      While using capsicum in Chinese food, add it at the end only. Never add it in the beginning of the dish. It loses its color and gves the dish a typical flavour that spoils the taste. Besides, capsicum when crunchy tastes better.

3.      If you are using green chillies, either chop then so finley that no one can make our their presence in the food except for the hot taste or make big big pieces so that people can make them aside and they don’t accidently get into mouth spoiling the taste!

4.     Carrots also should be added later on so that they don’t lose their fresh orange colour.

5.      Never add spring onion in the initial stages of the recipes. Always use spring onion in Chinese food as a garnish and not as an ingredient.

6.      When it is specified in recipes that use chopped ginger-garlic, DONOT SUBSTITUTE IT WITH GINGER-GARLIC PASTE. Every ingredient has different tastes in each preparation depending on their style of chopping. Similarly, if ginger-garlic paste is mentioned, do not use chopped ginger-garlic. Follow the instructions strictly.

7.      Similarly, chopped onion and onion paste or chopped tomato or tomato puree make a difference in taste.

8.      Chop tomato with a very sharp knife or you will end up spoiling the entire tomato chopping.

9.      Make sure you use a good knife while chopping. Chopping vegetables finely always makes dishes taste better.

10.   There should be some uniformity in style of chopping. Eg: Some onion pieces are chopped finely while other are big n fat, doesn’t make a good dish and it is bound to spoil the taste.

11.   Wash coriander/parsley thoroughly before using. Then chop it finely. The finer you chop coriander/parsley, better flavour it will add to your food.

12.  Do not wach vegetables after chopping them.

13.  If you have added extra salt and spoilt entire preparation, all few pieces of chopped potato to the preparation.

14.  Adding a twist of lime to all spicy preparation always enhances the flavour.

15.  Do not overcook veggies. It spoils the taste, flavour and the appearrance.

16.  Add a little baking soda to water if you are boiling a few veggies. This will help in preserving their colour and appearance.      

17.  Always remember that  :

 FOOD THAT LOOKS GOOD, TASTES GOOD!